SOTN is the best Castlevania and that is like that. The problem is SOTN was such a good game they can't match it.

SOTN is not the best Castlevania game by a long shot imo... I hate it how they just flipped the castle upside down for the 2nd castle (could've just scrapped the whole thing, just stretched out the bore more with a few hours), the overpowered weapons (crissaegrim and such), the weak difficulty, the lame bosses, THE FRICKIN' BACKTRACKING.

I've tried hard to like the Prime series. But after each installment, the less interest I had in the successor. I don't know, they just all felt the same to me. Sure, the worlds are huge. And Samus is one of my all-time favorite video game characters. However, I find there just isn't a challenge to the games. In all three, I managed to breeze through without any difficulties at all. There were only a few instances against some bosses when I had to replay again. Even then, once I knew the strategy, I could easily come away victorious without suffering any damage at all. I didn't find the enemy AI to be that intelligent. Personally, I enjoy more chaos in a FPS. And unfortunately, the Prime series doesn't offer that to me. Unless they revamp the series, it will be difficult to pick up another.

There is hard mode. The game is not all about shooting. Collecting and exploring plays the bigger part of the game similar to other Metroid games. Metroid Prim is not all about battling, if that's what you look for in a game then yes you are better off looking elsewhere.

I believe each game had it own features and element if you cannot understand what a game has to offer you cannot enjoy it. Personally when it comes to shooting games I usually like or enjoy once that's relays on factors other than mindlessly shooting hundreds hordes of enemies. Mind you these games can be fun and I do like many of them, but don't mind different approachs and can pretty much enjoy them.

I'm like you Paper, in that I enjoy FPS that focus on exploration and puzzle-solving as well as those that stress survival among waves of enemies. But even on hard mode, the monsters in Prime never gave me a sense of desperation or distress. I never had a moment in which I ran into an area being completely caught off guard and vulnerable. Despite being alone in a large, strange world, I didn't feel as though the odds were stacked against me. The vast majority of the encounters had enemies that were visible far away and didn't chase you when attacked. With cover seemingly available everywhere, you could easily shoot and strafe behind cover until the monster was dead. And during the few close encounters, the enemies weren't all that responsive and aggressive - you could easily outrun and maneuver them and get out of danger. I know the series is about exploration, but when I do have to fight, I at least want to feel my heart pounding now and then.

SOTN is not the best Castlevania game by a long shot imo... I hate it how they just flipped the castle upside down for the 2nd castle (could've just scrapped the whole thing, just stretched out the bore more with a few hours), the overpowered weapons (crissaegrim and such), the weak difficulty, the lame bosses, THE FRICKIN' BACKTRACKING.

Bloodlines/The New Generation is by far my favorite Castlevania.

Were you not completely dazzled by how amazing their level design was to allow the entire game to be flipped upside down and be completely playable!?!?!

Anyways, I don't see how this isn't a good deal for everyone. Unless you own all 3 games, and don't prefer the controls in 3 over the controls in 1/2 then you still are getting remakes of 1/2 for the price of 1 game. If you already own 3, then get ready to own two copies of it.